Alberta Investment Management Corp Buys 28,100 Shares of Weatherford International PLC $WFRD

Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its position in Weatherford International PLC (NASDAQ:WFRD) by 57.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 77,300 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,100 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Weatherford International were worth $6,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Weatherford International in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,525,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in Weatherford International by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 22,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,762,000 after buying an additional 1,211 shares in the last quarter. Fieldview Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Weatherford International in the 4th quarter worth about $392,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Weatherford International during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,765,000. Finally, Dockside LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Weatherford International during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,326,000. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WFRD shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $134.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Weatherford International from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Weatherford International in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Weatherford International from $105.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.67.

Weatherford International Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:WFRD opened at $97.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $104.17 and a 200 day moving average of $94.68. The company has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a PE ratio of 15.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.82. Weatherford International PLC has a 12-month low of $46.20 and a 12-month high of $113.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 28.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Weatherford International PLC will post 6.13 EPS for the current year.

Weatherford International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Weatherford International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.21%.

Weatherford International Profile

Weatherford International (NASDAQ: WFRD) is a global oilfield services company specializing in the development, design and manufacturing of equipment and technologies for oil and natural gas drilling, evaluation, completion and production. The company’s core offerings include well construction services such as directional drilling and wellbore positioning, well completion solutions that encompass sand control and zonal isolation technologies, and production enhancement services involving artificial lift systems and well intervention tools.

In addition to its comprehensive service lines, Weatherford provides a range of drilling optimization and reservoir evaluation products.